The Future is the Past
by Freddo
Summary: The Thundercats are ready, at last, to seek the Fourth and Final Stone, with the aid and asssistance of their allies from the past, the crews of the space battleships Argo and North Carolina, as Mumm-Ra and his own bizarre allies begin their own demented master plan to conquer Third Earth...and perhaps even other worlds...(cover artwork is (c) 2012 by AnzuFan-created by commission)
1. Chapter 1

**Thundercats (with many elements of Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato)**

**The Future is the Past**

**A Crossover Tale by Frederick P. Kopetz**

**Chapter One: Many Journeys**

It was about a week after LionO and Cheetara's joyful Bonding Ceremony that Tygra was found, near death at the edge of the Endless Steppes.

Tygra, half-mad with thirst and hunger, and barely able to walk, had been literally scraped up from the ground by the unholy pair of Sslythe and Chaniell.

The Tiger was barely conscious and still cursing the Fates at the beating that Lady Snowmane had given him.

"That Lioness…" he gasped. "That deranged thing. That maniac…"

"I saw it in Mumm-Ra's cauldron," said Sslythe.

"Why didn't either of you or he come to my aid?" whispered Tygra through bloody, cracked lips.

"I don't fight Goddesses," said Chaniell as she gave Tygra some water. "And neither does Mumm-Ra. Not yet, anyway."

"If the Reverend Ones hate you, you must really be a piece of animal droppings," sneered Sslythe. "Even we Lizards fear the Gods and Goddesses, you blathering egotistical idiot! How dare you fight a deity?"

"Because that's what I am on the way to becoming," said Tygra with a sneer as he laughed. "I'm going to be a God," he said as he began to sneer and laugh.

"By the Lady's Fur, you're losing your mind," said Chaniell in revulsion and wonder.

Tygra lay back on the ground and laughed some more.

He was still laughing like a madman when the Lizards came by with a Sky cutter and Chaniell and Sslythe helped him into the vehicle.

He was both laughing and crying when the ship set off. Where was it going?

It was heading towards Mumm-Ra's Pyramid.

The next morning, in Kievski, it was raining a little in the city as the First Earth Space Battleship _North Carolina_ rocked at anchor slowly in the Dnieper River as its Captain walked down the deck near the rail, talking with Cheetara and with Admiral Wildstar.

"How can you walk in those open shoes all the time in this drizzle? It's colder out today with this rain," said Nova as she looked at Cheetara as she walked along in her usual Cleric garb and sandalboots.

"I have fur on my toes. You don't," said Cheetara. "But how can you walk in those oddball closed-up boots?"

Nova looked down at her closed brown dress boots below her skirt-clad legs. "They're just a usual pair of human boots. Humans usually prefer to have full closed shoes on in rainy or cold weather. I like my sandals when it's warmer or I have to be dressed up."

Derek leaned against the rail and rolled his eyes. "Nova, never did I think you'd be discussing your shoe collection with a Cheetah before."

"What's wrong with Cheetahs?" said Cheetara. "You have all breeds of those Ralkhens all around your ship. They're bigger, and more barbaric-looking even though we revere those Cats as our mighty ancestors."

"The biggest issue is getting your ship repaired again, Nova," said Derek. "So that when you warp again you don't end up in some even worse place, like some really strange dimension we don't even know about. Besides, now that I've found you again, it's our responsibility to keep at least this much of our Task Group together again until we get back to our time"

"The repairs are sixty percent complete, thanks to the parts you brought from the _Argo's_ stores," said Nova.

"LionO says we need to be on the move sooner than that," ventured Cheetara.

"We're doing our best," sighed Nova. "Derek has some of his officers and men and women from the _Argo_ helping us. I've even been crawling around on the deck in the engine room myself looking at some circuit boards, and soldering parts back into place."

"What's giving you trouble aboard ship again?" Derek asked.

Nova looked at him and said, " Derek, the Dimensional Stabilizer is the part that's giving us trouble. Six of its eight stages are burned out. It's burned out up to the part of the unit where only myself and Kotuku even can fit in the Jeffries Tube."

Derek nodded at her and glanced at her face. Her delicate features looked droopy and fatigued. "Cheetara, she's barely slept…just like the rest of us."

LionO then showed up. "I've been looking at the Book of Omens with Tygra. I'm picking up a very strong signal on the Fourth Stone, now."

"Can we see this Book of Omens?" said Derek.

"Not a problem; if you can both follow us," LionO said.

**HALF AN HOUR LATER….**

A meeting had gathered in the ThunderTank.

LionO and Panthro sat near the Book of Omens, accompanied by Cheetara, WilyKat and Wilykit, Bengali, Major Graulus, and the Wildstars.

"This is where the Book is telling us to go," said Panthro as he tapped a page in the tome.

"East," said WilyKat.

"But how far to the East?" said Bengali.

"Can you blow up the scan field?" said Nova.

"To my knowledge, this is the farthest I can make it go," said LionO.

"Allow me," said Cheetara as she was suddenly drawn towards the Book. She set her hands on the Book, shut her eyes, and after a few moments, a larger-scale map appeared over the regular map of the area they had been able to access.

The map appeared for only a moment, but it gave a greater blow-up of the Great Continent than they had been able to see before.

The blip that symbolized the location of the Fourth Stone shot eastward, passing over the interior of a vast land none of the Thundercats except for Panthro had even known existed.

The Eastward progress of the blip took it over a small peninsula, and settled for a moment on a chain of islands that Panthro gasped at. However, Derek just nodded, and so did Nova, as her finger joined Cheetara's, stopping in the mid-section of the largest island when it stopped.

The view held for only a moment, just long enough for Panthro to say, "It's far, far to the East of us, in Ni'phangyu!"

"Ni'phangyu?" said LionO.

"We know those islands well," Derek said. "Our home, back on Earth. We know the islands as Japan or Nihon."

"The blip stopped on the Kanto Plain, Derek," Nova said. "Right near Fujiyama."

"What's Fujiyama?" said Cheetara, confused as to what these two Humans from First Earth were talking about.

"The Mountain of Fire in the Tanuki Kingdom; and it's heavily guarded," said Panthro grimly. "If what the Book and what you two are telling us is right; it's hidden right near an active volcano."

"Once the _North Carolina_ is working again," said Derek after Nova nodded at him, "We can form a convoy and we can fly East to Japan in a few minutes and then land there in force.

"We'd better do it fast before Mumm-Ra gets wind of this intelligence and lands his forces there," said Graulus.

"Or before Tygra gets there," said LionO.

"But then what do we do when we get to that volcano?" said Bengali.

"It'd be best if I help you speak with the Lord of that land, LionO," said Panthro.

"And the _Argo_ can take us there," said Nova. "She's functional…right, Derek?"

Admiral Wildstar nodded.

"When can we leave?" said WilyKit.

"As soon as we can assemble a party," said Derek. "I can head back to the ship and I can bring our Cosmo-Hound down to act as a heavy-lift vehicle to bring the ThunderTank and a party of about twenty up to the _Argo_."

"How far up are you?" said Panthro, suddenly not liking the sound of this.

"In orbit; hanging up in space above our very heads," said Derek.

"Sir, I request permission to leave Rosstowski in command on my ship to oversee the repairs, so that I can lead an away team from the _North Carolina_," Nova said.

"Granted; get six of your best people," said Derek. "I'll bring six of mine to land in the interior of Ni'phangyu and escort your group. LionO, how many will you be bringing?"

"I'll be bringing myself, Cheetara, Panthro, Bengali, WilyKit and WilyKat, Major Graulus…."

"And four of my best Lizards," said Graulus. "That'll give us a group of twenty-five Humans, Thundercats and Lizards. When do we leave?"

"At first light tomorrow," said LionO. "Is that all right with the rest of you?"

The other Thundercats, the humans, and the Lizard Commander nodded their heads.

"All right," said Panthro. "Everyone…get a good night's worth of sleep, and ready your weapons. We've got a long journey ahead of us."

The group members saluted and the meeting broke up.

**MIDNIGHT: MUMM-RA'S BLACK PYRAMID**

"You failure! _You scum_!" Mumm-Ra yelled as he slapped Tygra across the face. "You have disappointed me yet again! You should not have taken on that accursed Goddess! You should have called ME for aid!"

"She was just a woman; a young cat in shape," groaned Tygra. "I had no idea she was truly one of the Reverend Ones."

"Silence! I've had enough of your excuses!" Mumm-Ra roared as he circled a Stone Table that Tygra was strapped down to in the middle of the Pyramid near Mumm-Ra's Cauldron. The Mummy was not in his Ever-Living Form, but even he moved faster than Tygra could.

Tygra had been stripped of all of his rags as Mumm-Ra's Generals and Chaniell had strapped him down to the table. Stripped of his garments, it could be seen that one of his legs looked somewhat atrophied compared with the other.

Tygra had been forced to endure an examination by Chaniell, Kaynar, and a demented-looking little hunchbacked Human Doctor known as Doctor Dometone.

The Human laughed at Mumm-Ra as he said, "The very leg is damaged. We can try two things, Lord. We can try physical therapy and stretching it, which will be painful, and which will give us a patient who can walk at sixty percent capacity. Or, we can just cut it off, and replace it with a cyborg part, which might give him ninety to one hundred percent capacity, and if I do this right, it would be even _more_ painful," chuckled the Human scientist, who was an ally of Captain Shinar's.

"Let me help with the operation if we're going to hack his leg off!" laughed Kaynar, who was almost drooling with anticipation at the thought of Tygra writhing in agony.

"Why don't you have…the Ancient Spirits of Evil heal me?" gasped Tygra as he looked at Mumm-Ra's face.

"Because causing you torment, my liege, is more interesting," he said. "Kaynar; Chaniell, scrub and help Doctor Dometone prepare for the operation! I'm going to be magnanimous and give him a new leg!"

"Yes, Lord," said Dometone as he cackled.

Chaniell rubbed lewdly against Tygra and said, "No need to worry, dear. After we're all done, I'll kiss it and make it feel better," she hissed.

"Do I get any anesthesia?" said Tygra as he struggled against his bonds.

"No," said Mumm-Ra as he readied a syringe and jabbed the needle into Tygra's leg. Tygra gasped, and he struggled as Mumm-Ra injected him with some painful medicine that made the soon-to-be amputated leg twitch painfully. "And that's the best part of this whole thing, Tygra. I'm looking forward to this," he said as Chaniell, Doctor Dometone, and Kaynar, scrubbed and masked as surgeons, approached Tygra's Stone Table.

With an evil grin, Chaniell began to shave the fur around the amputation site while Kaynar and Dometone came forward with scalpels.

Rusty scalpels.

Tygra screamed when he saw the instruments of torture.

And he screamed more, screaming into the night in the darkness of the Pyramid, as he saw and felt what they were doing to him as blood began to spurt from his wounds.

Then, Doctor Dometone smiled as he turned on a high-pitched motorized saw.

"Don't worry," said Dometone as Kaynar and Chaniell poked hemostats into Tygra's leg. "This won't hurt…too much…"

And, Tygra's screams turned into roars….

….helpless roars.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thundercats (with many elements of Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato)**

**The Future is the Past**

**A Crossover Tale by Frederick P. Kopetz**

**Chapter Two: Welcome to My World…**

"DON'T YOU BUMP MY THUNDERTANK!" yelled Panthro in the dim dawn light as he began to guide it into the_ Argo's_ Cosmo Hound the next morning. The Cosmo Hound, which was one of the _Argo's _shuttles, was a large delta-winged craft that looked somewhat like an ancient Terran bomber plane, but it was a full-fledged spacecraft, complete with a short range warp-capable wave motion drive of its own.

"How big is this ship?" asked Wilykat as he looked at it.

"Big, but she's less than a quarter of the size of the _Argo_," said a Space Marine in green who stood near Wilykat.

"I'm helping you guide it, you big Panther-creature. I'm not bumping it into anything, you smart-mouthed, funny-looking, stupid Panther!" said a little red Robot near the aft part of the Cosmo Hound.

Panthro looked back at IQ-9 and glared at the little red Terran robot. "WHO'S FUNNY-LOOKING, YOU TIN CAN!?" he yelled.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Patrick Hemsford behind him. The tall, dark Space Marine and Panthro had become fast friends because the two warriors had similar likes and even sort of sounded similar. "Okay, Bron, Miyagi, help me push the other end!" yelled Hemsford as he yelled at two of his Marines. "You push too, Tinwit!" he yelled at IQ-9.

"Need a hand, guys?" said Parkis, a Ralkhen who had on a Marine helmet and bandolier.

"Lieutenant, get over there and help genius-ass Robot there push! And throw some sand down under these tracks!" yelled Hemsford.

"What are they doing?" said Cheetara as she came by to watch, clad in her Cleric's outfit again.

"Getting the Thundertank up that ramp," said Nova cheerfully as she stood there in her Captain's jacket, skirt and sandals in the sun. "Hemsford, the Captain wanted it up there twenty minutes ago!" Nova cried.

"Get me more people, XO, and it'll be done in _five_!" yelled Hemsford at Nova. Nova had temporarily been appointed by Derek as his Acting Executive (or First) Officer due to her rank and experience until they got to N'pangyo and she returned to her own ship, which was up in orbit.

"Want me to help you push?" Nova said with a grin as she leaned against the Thundertank and gave Cheetara a push. Nova winked at Cheetara, and shut her eyes as she began to push while Panthro slowly gunned the motor.

Cheetara helped push the Tank with Nova, IQ and the others. While she did so, the Cheetah felt Nova exerting her mental power a little to lift the Tank slightly with her mind even as she saw her pushing with her hands as she dug her sandaled toes into the grass while pushing theTank. Cheetara smiled, observing that the frail-looking woman was, interestingly, not a weakling as she sweated and pushed with the males with mind and body to help move the Tank up the ramp.

The ThunderTank skidded, bounced on the edge of the ramp, and then its treads finally caught and, aided by the pressure of four humans, a Thundercat, a Ralkhen and a robot, the Tank bounced up the ramp and up into the Cosmo Hound. "LET OFF!" roared Panthro as he got control and drove into the cargo bay.

The humans, Ralkhen, and Thundercat applauded as Bengali came up and bowed.

"Where were you?" said Cheetara. "We could've used you a moment ago!"

"Gathering up my tools," he said. "The Kievski people know I'm a smith, so I was given some new tools by them."

"And what were _you_ doing?" yelled Cheetara as Graulus came up.

"Munching on river scum," the Lizard said sarcastically. "I'm hungry. So's my lads!"

"River scum?" said Nova.

"They eat that," said Cheetara. "_Yeccch!_"

"You ever meet a Stone Giant, you'll wish you ladies had an appetite for the stuff," said Graulus.

"You're ugly," said IQ-9.

"And you're a smart-ass!" said Graulus.

"I'm going to show you something pretty!" said IQ as he flipped around, grabbed Nova's skirt, and lifted.

A moment later, Nova screamed, and the Marines and Ralkhen had a hearty laugh as the robot exposed Nova's brief underpants, navel, and long bare legs as he pulled her skirt up.

Nova pulled her gun on him, but the robot flipped around and then goosed Cheetara.

She screamed, extended her staff, and smashed the robot on the dome with it.

IQ yelled as he tried to outrun Cheetara, but Nova then holstered her weapon and raised her hand.

The robot screamed, "NOVA, NOT THAT!" and then he flew apart into several pieces and smacked against a bulkhead in the Cosmo Hound as Panthro laughed.

Admiral Derek Wildstar came out a bulkhead inside the Hound and nearly tripped as IQ's right arm flew his way. "Why's he going to pieces?" yelled Wildstar.

"He flipped your wife's skirt up and I think the lady retaliated!" laughed Panthro. "He's so messed up!"

"Oh, he pulls that on Nova once every two or three weeks," said Derek as he rolled up his eyes. "Ten hours extra duty, Tinwit!" he yelled as IQ's head floated over. "And for Chrissakes, pull yourself together! We have more supplies to load!"

"What was just going on?" LionO asked as he ran up while IQ-9 was cursing in Japanese and pulling himself back together.

"The Robot here was engaging in sexual harassment," snorted Derek.

"How does a robot sexually harass anyone?" said LionO, confused.

"Like THIS!" said IQ-9 he floated his head back onto his body and grabbed Nova's skirt again, once again showing her panties.

Nova screamed and kicked at him.

"Ma'am, why you wearin' _Hello Kitty_ panties?" said Hemsford.

"_Hello Kitty_?" said LionO. "What's that?"

Nova rolled up her eyes and lifted her own skirt, figuring they had already seen everything. "This. She's a cartoon cat. I wear her on a lot of my dainties because she's my _favorite_. "

"She's cute," said LionO.

"Stop looking," said Cheetara as she cuffed LionO on the back of his head. "Ma'am, where's your sense of decorum?" she said to Nova.

"It gets a little elastic at times around that crazy robot. Or around a baby who's hungry and wants my bare boob to nurse on. Or when I need to go swimming and don't have a suit on."

"What do you do then?" said Cheetara.

"Just go naked," Nova said with a shrug. "Doesn't everybody?"

"She's boring when she does that," said IQ-9. "She doesn't eat. Her ribs show!"

"I don't think she's boring," said Derek as he pulled down Nova's skirt and kissed her hard enough so she shut her eyes and her toes curled in her sandals.

"They've had five kids," said IQ-9. "You have to excuse them. They love to go into a cabin, lock the hatch, and make weird panting noises while…"

Nova and Derek both blushed and yelled at IQ-9, in unison, "SHUT UP!"

"This is gonna be an interestin' cruise," said Panthro with a sick grin while Cheetara giggled as Nova blushed while Derek shoved her hat down over her eyes as he played with her hair.

"Not just interesting…crazy!" yelled Wilykat as he blew on a whistle.

"BE QUIET!" everyone yelled.

"What'd_ I_ do?" said the ThunderKitten.

Tygra awoke again in the Black Pyramid, in deep pain.

Chaniell was sitting there with him, brushing his fur and smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking after your recovery."

"Who sent you?" hissed Tygra.

"Mumm-Ra. He is concerned about your welfare."

"If he's concerned about me, he has a funny damned way of showing it," said Tygra as he moved his cyborg leg. "This thing hurts every time I move it."

"So?" cooed Chaniell. "I can make that better."

She leaned over and kissed him, touching his navel as Tygra realized he still had nothing on.

"Am I your mate, or your toy?" he said in a voice filled with despair.

"Both, actually," said Chaniell as she climbed on top of him, and opened her dress…..

**TWO HOURS LATER…**

"He's sleeping, M' Lord," said Chaniell as she sat on the slab on which Tygra lay, buttoning up her dress and pulling on one of her sandalboots.

"Good," said Mumm-Ra, who was now in his Ever-Living form. "He's useful to me…"

"…for now," said Chaniell as she let Mumm-Ra kiss her. "Don't forget your promise…"

"To make you Queen after we're finished with…him…and the other Thundermanges?" said Mumm-Ra.

Chaniell nodded gently.

"I intend to keep my promise," said Mumm-Ra. "You shall reign as Queen…forever," said the devil-priest as he picked up Chaniell in his arms.

And…Chaniell kissed him.

"Are we aboard now?" asked Admiral Derek Wildstar as LionO was escorted to the _Argo's_ First Bridge by Hemsford not long after the Cosmo Hound had landed on the _Argo, _which was now in low orbit over Third Earth.

LionO was impressed by the _Argo's_ sheer size. Based somewhat upon the looks of the ancient Earth battleship _Yamato_, the _Argo_ shared the old _Yamato's_ sleek lines and appearance. Indeed, parts of the ancient wrecked battleship's metal had been melted into new metal parts that made up the superstructure of the space battleship when she had been built in the exposed and dried sea bed of Earth in 2199 during the war with Gamilon. Since then, she had been refitted numerous times, and her hull had been made slightly bigger in one of her rebuilds; but the space battleship still looked strangely like an ancient sea-going metal battleship with her long deck, high bridge tower, huge naval gun turrets and smokestack, a sleek warship, and one of the last of her kind constructed on ancient Earth. She was shiny, with dark blue-grey upper works, and a shiny red lower hull; the sides of the massive ship were trimmed with white EDF anchor emblems, and there was a similar white anchor on her bow above some huge port that LionO could only guess at the function of when he had seen it while the Cosmo Hound had been landing earlier.

"Everyone from my party's on board," said LionO as Hemsford directed him to sit down on a seat to the left of Wildstar.

Derek took off his Admiral's jacket and put it over the chair as he sat down behind the _Argo's_ Combat Console.

Lieutenant Commander Tetsu Kitano, a younger man in white and green with dark hair, sat down to Derek's right at a complex set of controls with something like a large pilot's yoke that LionO guessed was the _Argo's_ helm.

The Bridge doors whizzed open, and Nova came onto the bridge, having changed her uniform for a tight gold skin-tight catsuit trimmed in black with shin-high boots. She stopped near a console with a hemispherical screen and said, "Captain, I made sure that Panthro and Cheetara have the young Thunderkittens and their allied officers secured on the port side observation post."

"So they can watch the launch but will be out of trouble?" said Derek.

Nova nodded and smiled as she programmed her radar. "All clear ahead," said Nova.

"Kitano, raise our orbit up to fifteen thousand kilometers; medium speed," said Derek.

The _Argo_, which had just been drifting in space, shifted slightly under Kitano's practiced hands as he turned the ship East over the huge landmass of what had once been Eastern Russia, not far from the border with China.

"Secure for launch," said Kitano. "Medium speed ahead."

LionO looked at the Earth moving below him in the windows as the _Argo's_ engines came up, and three blasts of tachyon and plasma energy roared out of the massive nozzles in the space battleship's stern.

The_ Argo_ began to cruise ahead, moving up into a higher orbit and gathering speed as Earth moved below them, faster and faster.

LionO smiled at Wildstar, and said, "Quick ride to Ni'phangyu?"

"We should be in the Eastern Sea in less than an hour after we orbit the Earth once or twice and then change course, land, and cruise in," said Derek. "A pretty routine trip."

"Captain, object spotted on radar," said Nova. "Range, six hundred Megameters, speed, twenty space knots. It's cruising in towards us from behind the larger Moon."

"What the heck is it?" said LionO.

Then, a moment later, the Argo shook as she was hit by greenish plasma beams.

"Whatever it is, it's not friendly!" barked Derek. "Kitano, helm hard about! Nova, keep on tracking it and get me a visual on the main screen! Eager, get me an ident on that thing right away!"

"Yessir!" snapped Derek's officers as LionO looked on in rage.

A moment later, Nova flicked some buttons, and an image of the ship came up above LionO's, Derek's and Kitano's heads on the huge video screen that made up the forward part of the _Argo's_ First Bridge ceiling above the high windows.

Panthro ran up onto the First Bridge a moment later through the doors and ran up to LionO. "I hate being up this damn high!" he barked. "But I recognize that damn ship!"

"Who is it?" snapped LionO.

"That's Shinar! And that ship is the _Vertis_! That damned pirate!" snapped Panthro.

**-TO BE CONTINUED…..**


End file.
